Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle Transfer Question

[Gyt Kaliba]

I've asked this question a few different times in the past I believe, but never been able to get a definitive answer from what I can remember, and seeing as how the newer copy is at my local Wal-mart now for only $20, I'm more curious than ever about it.

I have the second Dragon Ball movie via the old three-movie box set that FUNi put out ages ago, that had 'Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle', 'Mystical Adventure', and 'The Path to Power' years before they'd get to re-dub and re-release the first film. You know, this box set. The video quality of the second movie there is...well, not the greatest. I'm not even a videophile and I still recall it looking pretty questionable in spots. Then, a good long while later after FUNi did re-dub the first movie, we got a new box set featuring all four Dragon Ball movies, this release here. I've seen some posts in the past that seem to suggest the video quality for the second movie is better on this newer set, but I've also seen some saying the opposite, and even some saying it's really just the same. So...which is it? Is it really worth double dipping (even for only $20) for the newer set, or just keep what I have?

[LostTimeLord]

I own both discs and IMO there's no contest, the old disc is leagues ahead.

Here's a couple of comparisons:
The opening: Old disc https://www.dropbox.com/s/x3imnn6a2u5w9 ... 1.mpg?dl=0, Remastered https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0ull43meqhei ... 1.mpg?dl=0
Running scene: Old disc https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfyie552i32uq ... 2.mpg?dl=0, Remastered https://www.dropbox.com/s/dvib0uioyb35u ... 2.mpg?dl=0
(If you play the old disc clips on Dropboxes browser player you'll see jagged lines. This is because the old disc is interlaced. Download the clips and your media player should filter them out, as all DVD players do with the actual disc.)

The old disc is a dated but solid transfer of the film. The "Remastered" disc is possibly the worst DVD quality DVD I've ever owned because they somehow presented the entire film (sans new English credits) in 12 FPS and with unintelligibly muffled Japanese audio. Granted, anime isn't animated in that high a frame rate to begin with, but the pans and fast movements look so jerky. In the race between Kuririn and Goku at the begging of the film the two just float in the remastered disc because the running animation alternated between two frames.

[Danfun64]

The remastered version of the running scene is hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

Seriously, how was this considered a good transfer in any way?

[Gyt Kaliba]

Thanks for the solid answer, LostTimeLord - that's the first time anyone's shown me some direct video comparison of the two too. I'm not going to lie, I laughed pretty damn hard at the running scene in the remaster. That's...what? What am I even watching?!

Amusement aside though, yeah, it looks like I'll be sticking with my old copy regardless. Many thanks again, glad I can finally stop fretting about whether it would be worth double dipping or not, and can instead save that money for...other...Dragon Ball stuff...eventually...

[Danfun64]

The only advantages the 4-movie pack version has over the 3-movie pack are compatibility with the Dragon Radar project and using the japanese opening/closings, which helps a lot with said compatibility. If you have no interest in that project, don't bother with the Remastered DB movie 2. Personally, I recommend getting the 4-movie pack and getting the old DB Movie 2 DVD from Amazon, to avoid double dipping with Movie 3 and 4.

[Cipher]

I suspect something went wrong in the encoding of the Movie 2 DVD in the four-pack, because the neutered framerate is immediately noticeable. Worth it only if you can find no other version. It's rather unfortunate to have one random movie out of the lot that's borderline unwatchable in its most readily available R1 release.

[phattangent]

In the race between Kuririn and Goku at the begging of the film the two just float in the remastered disc because the running animation alternated between two frames.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 1080p online version on Funimation's site is this "remastered" version. It looks so good and really bad at the same time.

[superrayman3]

In the race between Kuririn and Goku at the begging of the film the two just float in the remastered disc because the running animation alternated between two frames.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 1080p online version on Funimation's site is this "remastered" version. It looks so good and really bad at the same time.

Does the 1080P version on FUNimations site have the same framerate issues as the DVD version (12fps) or is the framerate the proper 23.976 fps like it's supposed to be?

[clutchins]

In the race between Kuririn and Goku at the begging of the film the two just float in the remastered disc because the running animation alternated between two frames.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 1080p online version on Funimation's site is this "remastered" version. It looks so good and really bad at the same time.

Does the 1080P version on FUNimations site have the same framerate issues as the DVD version (12fps) or is the framerate the proper 23.976 fps like it's supposed to be?

It has the same issues

[DrBriefsCat]

Sounds like they may have taken an interlaced video master and badly converted it to progressive.